Federal Communications Commission data reveals that the average child in the United States watches three hours of television each day. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, this means that by the time the average American graduates high school, she will have spent more time watching television than in the classroom. There is a large amount of research that shows correlation between viewing violence in the media and aggressive behavior. However, no scientific study can prove causation, only correlation.
Increases Likelihood of Aggressive Behavior
According to a 2003 article in the journal Psychological Science in the Public Interest entitled "The Influence of Media Violence on Youth," research on violence in forms of media, including television, films and video games, reveals that violence is clearly correlated with increases in immediate and long-term aggressive behavior. The organization notes that, in the short term, exposure to media violence has been shown to be strongly correlated with increased likelihood of aggressive behavior, such as physical and verbal aggression.
More Aggressive Thoughts and Emotions
The same study published in Psychological Science, by Anderson et al., also notes that violence in the media has been shown to cause an immediate increase in aggressive thoughts and emotions. The behavior of children who interact with the world with these aggressive instincts primed will affect the behavior of their peers, causing a kind of spinoff effect of media violence in the real world. In other words, kids who don't watch violent TV will still be affected by higher levels of aggression in friends; according to Psychological Science, research suggests "that no one is wholly immune to the effects of media violence."
Clear Correlation Mandates Changes in Youth Programming
The study by Anderson et al. and The Christian Science Monitor both say that the debate over whether media violence increases aggression is over. According to Anderson, the next critical task is to provide kids with a healthier media diet, but this effort may only succeed if the public is aware of the specific risks of media-violence exposure by kids. For example, a study cited by the Monitor found that teenage boys who watched professional wrestling were 18 percent more likely to physically confront a date. Common sense says that parents well-informed that violent TV shows could lead to future domestic violence would likely object more strongly to the programming available in their household as well as region.
Educating Children on Media Awareness
Making kids aware of how seeing or hearing violence in the media can affect them is also a possible solution to decreasing the societal negatives of media violence. For example, a 25 percent decrease in violence was observed in a grade school where kids were asked to watch only an hour of TV a day and were also given classroom lessons on media awareness.
Movie Violence and Reasons for Concern
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center observed that scenes that formerly would have mandated an "R" rating have become accessible to younger children as a result of the advent of the "PG-13" rating in 1984. Researchers also noted that PG-13 movies from 2001 to 2006 oftentimes had more violence and more intensely violent scenes than even R-rated movies before 1984. The researchers say possible results could be youth who are less likely to reject violence as a way to solve conflict, and who have less empathy to victims of violence.
References
- "Psychological Science in the Public Interest"; The Influence of Media Violence on Youth; Craig A. Anderson, et al.; December 2003
- The Christian Science Monitor: Mounting Evidence Links TV Viewing To Violence
- Los Angeles Times: PG-13 Films Serving Up Way More Violence, Not Much More Sex
- Federal Communications Commission: Children's Educational Television
- American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Children And Watching TV
